The US Nuclear Research Laboratory Is A Target For Russian Hackers

Senior vice president of intelligence at CrowdStrice cybersecurity firm Adam Meyers. (photo: Twitter @Chaib)

JAKARTA - Hackers from Russia known as Cold River are reportedly targeting three nuclear research laboratories in the United States (US) some time ago.

The targeting plan, according to Internet records reviewed by Reuters and five cybersecurity experts, between August and September last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin indicated his country would use nuclear weapons to defend its territory.

Then, Cold River immediately targeted the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Argonne (ANL) and Lawrence Livermore (LLNL). The hackers created fake login pages for each institution and sent emails to nuclear scientists in an attempt to get them to reveal the passwords used.

A digital attack on a US laboratory comes as UN experts enter Russian-controlled Ukrainian territory, to examine Europe's largest atomic power plant and assess the risks from what both sides say could be a devastating radiation catastrophe amid intense shootings nearby.

However, it is unclear whether the attempt was successful or why the hackers are trying to gain access to the laboratory system. However, senior vice president of intelligence at CrowdStrice cybersecurity firm Adam Meyers told Reuters Cold River was directly involved in supporting the Kremlin's information operations.

Cold River has continued its actions in recent years. In May last year, Cold River broke into and leaked an email belonging to the former head of the UK MI6 spy service, quoted from Engadget, Monday, January 9.

It was just one of several hacking and leaking operations last year by Russian-related hackers in which secret communications were published in the UK, Poland, and Latvia.

In a recent espionage operation targeting Moscow critics, according to French cybersecurity firm Sekoia.io, Cold River registered a domain name designed to emulate at least three European NGOs investigating war crimes.